Nation-Building

A few days ago, I asked the following question of former President Jimmy Carter: Dubai Ports deal and allies in the middle east (3+ / 0-) I was dismayed by the way in which the Democratic establishment seized upon the Dubai Ports World deal as a means to burnish their foreign policy credentials at the expense of the Bush Administration. If we are to reform the Arab world, it will require building long-lasting economic links between our societies, and making common cause with political moderates against the Islamists. As has been noted, the Islamophobia evident in the reaction to the DPW deal (which was largely fueled by the Democrats, it must be noted) has had serious consequences . What is President Carter's position on the DPW deal and what strategies does he support for reaching out to the moderates in the middle east? by azizhp on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 10:50:35 AM CDT Today, President Carter did me the immense honor of replying , as follows: Answer to azizhp: In an interview on ...

In a comment on RedState, a poster named DonS once offered the following trenchant observation: Liberals look at a need, and see a right. Although I'm definitely to the left of center, especially these days, I find this comment to be right on the money. Liberal Americans commonly speak of a right to a good education, a right to affordable healthcare, and a right to three squares a day. I agree that there is a sense in which these things are rights, but only in the sense that noone should prevent anyone else from getting these things for themselves according as they are able. As I make it out, that makes them, as rights, approximate analogues to B.B. King's "right" to sing the blues -- noone should stop him, and noone better try. What it does not make them are things which the government is bound to guarantee to us as a necessary part of its raison d'etre. I also, however, believe that things like this -- education, health care, a "safety net" suffic...

Leon, in a post at SwordsCrossed about the need for election reform, makes the assertion: And for the very worst of the worst, you’ve got to go to someplace that’s been controlled by Democrat political machines for time immemorial As you might imagine, this touched off some fireworks in the comment threads. Read on.   I replied to the post, and Leon's subsequent surprise at the drubbing he was getting, thusly: If you’re going to start out with the premise that voting fraud is mostly one parties fault rather than another, then it’s fair for someone to ask why you’re not including the skeletons in your own party’s closet. Had you instead said, voting fraud can be seen on both sides of the divide - and been a littl emore forthright about stating without any attempt at minimizing the fact that the Republican party does have a pattern of voter suppression of minorities, then you wouldnt have gotten that response. You cant go on the partisan atttack from the outset and then be surpris...

I have written at City of Brass about how liberal Saudi prince Al-Walid's new Al-Risalah television station is being portrayed as "Hate TV" by MEMRI and others of their jafi ilk. The ultimate victory in the war on terror is going to require a re-thinking of attitudes towards Arab society - especially Arab media. I have little cause for optimism on that front; the right is thoroughly tainted with the support of Islamophobic elements like MEMRI, whereas the Left is too obsessed with political advantage to take a stand on principle (witness the Dubai Ports debacle, which I also blogged about at CoB ).

There's some kind of fundamental symmetry at work here, like a String Theory of Politics: for every story about Obama running in 2008, there must be a story about Gore not running. Case in point : Nashville, TN (AHN) - Former Vice President Al Gore says at a book signing in his hometown that he will not run for the White House in 2008. The Associated Press reports an attendee asked Gore whether he would seek the presidency while he was promoting his documentary and book on global warming in Tennessee. Gore responded to the question by saying, "I'm not planning on it, but thanks for encouraging me." [...] According to the AP, Gore says his time is best used by educating people about global climate change, not running for president. It's interesting that Obama and Gore both deny that they will run, but only Gore's denials are taken seriously. The pundits assume that Obama will run, but they draft letters to Gore begging him to reconsider . That said, that piece ...

(Cross-posted from Gene Expression ) Adam K. Webb is the author of Beyond the Global Culture War and a lecturer at Harvard College. His specialization is world political thought, liberalism and antiliberalisms. Below are 10 questions.... UPDATE (Aziz): Adam Webb responds to questions over at the GNXP comment threads, where a robust discussion took place. 1) Dr. Webb, I have read your book, Beyond the Global Culture War , but I suspect few of my readers have (yet), so can you offer a succinct summary of your argument for us? The book traces the rise of liberal modernity and the global culture war it has sparked. You might call me a traditionalist with a deep commitment to social justice. I share the misgivings that many thinkers and movements around the world have about the flavour of the emerging global culture-consumerist excess, an obsession with markets, the erosion of traditional ways of life, and the like. But I fear that resistance today, whether from the fundamentalists,...

Giuliani has launched a new site that - aside from the actual omission of the words "president" and "2008" - looks pretty much like a campaign website. The man is going to run. And he's going to get clobberred in the GOP primary. I still think he should run as a Democrat; after all, even Kucinich and Sharpton enlivened the debate in 2004 and brought substance, though they hadn't the remotest chance of winning the nod. I am aware that my position on this is controversial .